***NEWS RELEASE***

‘Committee on the Present Danger: China’ Commends Secretary Pompeo for His Warning to the Governors

Chinese Communist Influence Operations Target Them, Their States

WASHINGTON, D.C.—On Feb. 8, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a blunt warning to the nation’s governors: They and their states are being targeted by a sophisticated and comprehensive influence operation at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) has been conveying a similar message in a series of 2020 Battlespace Threat Briefings—to date in Iowa and New Hampshire with another in South Carolina next week and more to be announced shortly.

Highlights of Secretary Pompeo’s remarks at the National Governors Association in Washington, D.C., included the following (emphasis added throughout):

“…Competition with China is not just a federal issue … It’s happening in your states with consequences for our foreign policy, for the citizens that reside in your states, and indeed, for each of you.”

“Indeed, last year, a Chinese Government-backed think tank in Beijing produced a report that assessed all 50 of America’s governors on their attitudes towards China. They labeled each of you ‘friendly,’ ‘hardline,’ or ‘ambiguous.’ I’ll let you decide where you think you belong. Someone in China already has. Many of you, indeed, in that report are referenced by name.”

“…In fact, whether you are viewed by the CCP as friendly or hardline, know that it’s working you, know that it’s working the team around you.”

“Competition with China is happening inside of your state, and it affects our capacity to perform America’s vital national security functions.”

“At the end of the Cold War, America started to engage with China heavily. It made good sense. We thought that the more we interacted, the more it would become like a liberal democracy, like us here in the United States. It didn’t happen, and you all know this.”

“Indeed, under Xi Jinping, the country is moving exactly in the opposite direction—more repression, more unfair competition, more predatory economic practices; indeed, a more aggressive military posture as well.”

“The Chinese Government has been methodical in the way it’s analyzed our system, our very open system, one that we’re deeply proud of. It’s assessed our vulnerabilities, and it’s decided to exploit our freedoms to gain advantage over us at the federal level, the state level, and the local level.”

“This competition is well underway. And while these might seem like local matters to some, the cumulative effect is of enormous national importance and international significance.”

“When it comes to doing business, I’m asking you to adopt a cautious mindset.”

“I know you all have power over pension funds or the people that run them. As of its latest public filing, the Florida Retirement System is invested in a company that in turn is invested in surveillance gearthat the Chinese Communist Party uses to track more than 1 million Muslim minorities. California’s pension fund, the largest public pension fund in the country, is invested in companies that supply the People’s Liberation Army that puts our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines at risk.”

“And it is the case for many Chinese companies, too—no Sarbanes-Oxley. Their books are not wide open, so it’s difficult to know if the transaction that’s being engaged in is transparent and fair and follows the rule of law.”

“Don’t lose sight of the competition from China that’s already present in your state. Let’s all rise to the occasion and protect our security, our economy; indeed, all that we hold dear, all of those freedoms. It’s what leaders must do. It’s what we do as Americans.”